The gallery at the Janice Mason Art Museum was flooded Friday night with proud beaming faces of young artists and their families.

The event in question was the opening of the annual Primary/Intermediate School art show, featuring artists from kindergarten to fifth grade. Practically every wall was filled with the drawings, leading many of the children to take in others’ work before finally finding their own. Eileen Kehrwald, the secretary to the superintendent, stayed busy, taking pictures of dozens of kids as they stood next to their pieces. In one corner was a digital photo display that was showing pictures of kids and their drawings from the last two shows.

The entries were also judged as part of the art show contest. Each grade had a first, second and third place ribbons, as well as the Best in Show, kindergarten winner Kaleb Burch. Waiting for the families to arrive, Kehrwald admired the Indianapolis Colts-themed drawing of one of the fourth grade first-place winner, Matthew Skinner.

“And I’ll just bet Matthew shows up in a Peyton Manning jersey,” she said.

Intermediate Principal Brian Futrell said he was excited that more drawings had been submitted at his school for the art show than last year. He said most of the drawings were done around Christmas, explaining common subject matter of Christmas trees.

“It gives them a chance to show off talent that they wouldn’t otherwise get to show, and the public gets to see it,” Futrell said.